1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fastening systems for connecting members together, and, more particularly, to a novel and improved fastening system utilizing a tapered plug configured to be matingly received in a slot having a correspondingly tapered cross-sectional configuration.
2. Prior Art
Proposed fastening systems include the use of dowel pins, the use of screws having heads received in keyhole-shaped slots, and the use of various types of undercut interfitting formations such as dovetail projections extending into dovetail slots.
Some proposed fastenings systems are undesirable because they require the use of bonding materials at the final assembly site. Some proposals are undesirable because they result in the formation of a permanent rather than a disassemblable connection. Some fastening system proposals require the formation of slots which are difficult to form. Some proposed fastening systems provide connections which are undesirably loose and/or loosen when subjected to substantial loadings over significant periods of time. Some proposed fastening systems require the removal of large amounts of structural material from the vicinity of joints, resulting in assemblies which are structurally weakened in the vicinity of their joints. Many proposed fastening systems are deficient in their abilities to transmit a combination of tension, compression and shear loadings as well as bending moments.
Where proposed fastening systems provide releasable connections that do function properly over extended periods of time, they have characteristically been unacceptably expensive for use in many applications, have required that their components be relatively located with great accuracy, and/or have required the use of expensive drilling, doweling or gluing jigs.